Sky price rises: how much is it going up and why?

What’s happened?

Sky is putting its subscription prices up after a 12-month freeze in 2011. The price rise affects TV and phone services, but not broadband.

How much is my Sky subscription going up?

The Sky Entertainment and Entertainment Extra packages go up £1.50 to £21.50/month and £26.50/month each (a seven per cent increase).

Sky Sports 1 and 2 will cost an extra 50p as individual channels at £13/month (up four per cent) or an extra £1 for both at £21.50/month (up 4.7 per cent). ESPN goes up £1 to £10/month (11 per cent up).

There’s no change to the cost of Sky Movies, Sky HD or Multiroom subscriptions.

Sky Talk subscription prices aren’t going up, but UK landline call charges outside your free call time rise from 7.6p/min to 7.95p/min. Some other rates are also going up – there are full details at MySky.

From September 1, the free Sky Talk Freetime will be closed to new subscribers, and will be replaced by a new Sky Talk Weekends (stripping back free calls from weekday evenings to weekends-only).

Some packages are also being renamed without any change to the cost or service: Sky Broadband Everyday Lite will become Sky Broadband Lite, and Sky Talk Unlimited will become Sky Talk Anytime.

When will the new Sky prices take effect?

The new prices come into effect on September 1, 2012, but because Sky bills in advance, they will appear on bills issued during August.

Are any Sky subscribers not affected?

New Sky subscribers are protected from price rises during the first 60 days, when they’re probably on a discounted rate anyway. This will delay until after the 60-day limit, or when the discount expires, whichever is later.

New subscribers are also protected from subscription price rises of more than 10 per cent in the first year. The only channel to rise by more than 10 per cent is ESPN, which isn’t a Sky channel, so it’s not covered by this guarantee.

Why is Sky increasing prices now?

Sky said: “Following last year’s price freeze, we finally have to change some of our prices. This is to ensure that we can give you TV that you can’t get anywhere else and the latest technology so that you can watch the entertainment you love whenever and wherever you choose.

“While your subscription price may have stayed the same during the price freeze, we’ve been doing everything we can to make sure your Sky package has been getting bigger and better.

“From Sky TV channels on the move with Sky Go, to exclusive content with Sky Atlantic and Sky Rewards for all of our customers there’s lots included in your Sky subscription to help you enjoy the entertainment you love.”

Will Sky increase its prices again?

Almost certainly. Officially, there are no plans, but Sky has traditionally raised prices every year, and its a basic part of any business strategy to charge your customers more every year, even if it’s just to cover inflation.

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